The Insomnia Thread - #TeamNoSleep

Sometimes I have problems sleeping and I have come to realize it's because I'm in the wrong mood.
It's very hard to sleep if you are stressed, angry or feel bad in some way. It's important to be in a peaceful mood to feel forgiveness and at least some optimism.
I know I'm good at stating the obvious but still

PJ_Soul said:

Annafalk said:

Sometimes I have problems sleeping and I have come to realize it's because I'm in the wrong mood.
It's very hard to sleep if you are stressed, angry or feel bad in some way. It's important to be in a peaceful mood to feel forgiveness and at least some optimism.
I know I'm good at stating the obvious but still

Yes, stress and anxiety has a profound effect on sleep!
But for me, i suspect that happiness and contentment is just as much a cause of my insomnia. I have a strong feeling that I subconsciously reject sleep because it's such a waste of good living time, lol.

Hahaha...it's great that you are excited about your life

ldent42 said:

brianlux said:

Two days straight waking up after not enough sleep with intense lower back pain. Ice and ibuprofen. Zombie mornings and long nights...

I know that feel, bro

I can barely walk today. I finally got an MRI this week. Hopefully I'll have a diagnosis and a plan to fix it by the end of next week. Is one of your vertebrates trying to escape from your spine? That's what it looked like to me on the x-ray. But the Chiropractor was yappin' in my ear about how he could fix me right up in a couple sessions and I won't need to see the physical therapist and blah blah blah. I'm sure he had a bridge for sale too.

I feel like a fool for not taking the pain pills when he offered them. I just felt uncomfortable accepting a prescription from some dude i'd met for about 30 seconds.

Sorry to hear about your back issues, Ident42. I had a friend who had back surgery and it helped big-time even though most of his friends warned him against it. He also could barely walk. But he did a lot of research and it turned out best for him.

My back issues are basically just wear and tear on the vertebrae from years of lifting heavy boxes of books. I managed to get by with the help of a good chiropractor, icing and occasional electro-stim and ibuprofen. If these ever fail me, I might have to consider surgery but not without a second or third or fourth opinion and a lot of research.

I worked in a health library for a few years and that was the one big thing we encouraged people to do- to advocate for oneself through education. You may have been on the right track turning down meds from a doc you didn't know well. Maybe go to one of these sites for info on the medication before taking it:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/patient_care/conditions_treatments.html

Wish you well, Ident!

I have occasional issues with insomnia but fortunately for me I know what triggers it... Caffeine. If I have even 1 cup of regular coffee or more than 1 square of dark chocolate my brain just won't shut off that night. So bizarre that I'm that sensitive. After not sleeping I will also will be prone to the terrible cycle of "I didn't sleep so I need a cup of regular coffee" which of course makes me function for awhile and get through my work day but then I crash and can't sleep the next night. Usually day 2 will be a migraine day. So my suggestion is avoid caffeine.

I go through bouts every few months...right now my schedule is all f'ed up...I don't go to 'sleep' until 3 or 4 am, then I sleep until 7am, am up for an hour then fall back asleep until 11.

If anybody is into homeopathic stuff, try valerian capsules. They have helped me. I don't feel as dopey when I take those compared to Ambien.

PJ_Soul said:

RKCNDY said:

I go through bouts every few months...right now my schedule is all f'ed up...I don't go to 'sleep' until 3 or 4 am, then I sleep until 7am, am up for an hour then fall back asleep until 11.

If anybody is into homeopathic stuff, try valerian capsules. They have helped me. I don't feel as dopey when I take those compared to Ambien.

Have not tried valerian.... how well does it work? Like, melatonin good, or Tylenol 3s plus wine good? :P

I've taken Valerian Root with mixed results- it helps sometimes, doesn't do much other times. Definitely worth giving it a try though I've heard it's best not take too much and not to take it on a regular basis.

Sometimes I don't sleep because I don't want to. As I get older I have all these things I want to do while I still can. So I got to thinking about how they say not getting enough sleep will likely shorten ones life but then I wonder- if I'm awake more hours every day that I'm alive will that offset the number off days I'll lose of my life staying up? I wonder if anyone's ever done the math on that one?

That also got me to thinking about something someone told me once- that sometimes we value quantity of life over quality of life.

PJ_Soul said:

Have not tried valerian.... how well does it work? Like, melatonin good, or Tylenol 3s plus wine good? :P

I like it better than melatonin...but Tylenol 3s + wine is better...

ldent42 said:

I don't like Varian root. It smells.

you don't really need to snort it to make it work... )

Lots of herbal stuff smells...I had to take wormwood (that stuff in absinthe) for a month twice a day...THAT stuff is horrible awful disgusting stuff, I would hold my nose, shoot it down, and follow with a chaser.

and Brian is right, you don't want to take it regularly...just sometimes. Like when I'm super stressed, I'll take it. I would start with one, then go up to 3 max for a night, wait about 45 minutes after the first dose.

On a side note, you may just be a 'night owl' which isn't so bad: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/night-owl-sleep_b_4276411.html